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Is 45ACP the Easiest Round to Reload? (Page 2 of 2)
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Easiest? All straight wall cartridges are relatively easy with revolver being a little more nuanced due to crimp I'd say 45ACP is the most forgiving to load as there are a metric shitton of recipes for all gr projectiles, lots of powders, and the pressures are far harder to spike than 9mm. |
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With two or three references saying 5.3 gr is a max load, I think I will just trust them and leave it at that. I do not have pressure measuring equipment, so I will trust those companies who do. These Berry Hybrid Hollow Points are a decent bullet but do not qualify as anything special as a 45 ACP self defense round in my book. They require insane velocities from a 45 ACP to perform and I am not risking my pistol for that. Similarly, chasing the standard 830 fps has no merit if the bullet won't perform any differently at that speed. I will just move on to loading the XTP's and Gold Dots I have. Those work well at 830 fps, so that's where I'm headed with them. We will see. That was easy, right? |
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Originally Posted By Trollslayer: With two or three references saying 5.3 gr is a max load, I think I will just trust them and leave it at that. I do not have pressure measuring equipment, so I will trust those companies who do. These Berry Hybrid Hollow Points are a decent bullet but do not qualify as anything special as a 45 ACP self defense round in my book. They require insane velocities from a 45 ACP to perform and I am not risking my pistol for that. Similarly, chasing the standard 830 fps has no merit if the bullet won't perform any differently at that speed. I will just move on to loading the XTP's and Gold Dots I have. Those work well at 830 fps, so that's where I'm headed with them. We will see. That was easy, right? Why are you staying with W231? It's obviously too fast for what you want to do. You've received several powder recommendations. A bit slower powder will help you achieve that 830fps you want with all those bullets without over-pressure. |
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Originally Posted By PoppaCapp: Why are you staying with W231? It's obviously too fast for what you want to do. You've received several powder recommendations. A bit slower powder will help you achieve that 830fps you want with all those bullets without over-pressure. Oh, I don't know, maybe because it has worked for me for my entire reloading carreer. :-) Maybe because I have an 8 pound container of it. Maybe because it works in every pistol caliber I own. :-) If anything it is too fast, not too slow. Burnout happens at 3.5" in a 5" barrel. For example, Bullseye has burnout after the bullet leaves the muzzle but it gets me there, velocity-wise. The thing is, I don't have any and really don't want more powders. I already have more than I will ever be able to use in this lifetime. W296 would safely take me to almost 1,000 fps but I'm saving the W296 for my magnum loads. I'm going to go with that 5.3 gr load of W231. It is just so easy to do. P.S. - Sorry to sound so snarky in this response. I appreciate the thought and you are right but there are other, self-imposed, constraints. |
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Youve inspired me to take the w231 out (been playing with lil gun lol) and duplicate your listed load as close as I can with my components to see what sort of velocity I get. W231 has been my general go to for 45acp for a long time, but I haven't really shot the .45 just to shoot it since I got the super easy to use chronograph. It may be that's its always that slow but I never knew. Nor really cared prior, but since I'm experimenting a bit nowadays, and the chronograph is now no burden, why not? |
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Originally Posted By Trollslayer: Ok, so the easy part is over. Now, a question or two. I made a batch using the recipe shown below. Hodgdon/Winchester, as well as GRT, say it should give me 830 fps. It did not, not even close. I got ~760 fps not 830 fps. <-- those with a longer OAL were even slower: 1.240" gave 735 fps. Any thoughts on how to proceed? 230 gr Berry's Hybrid Hollow Point seated to OAL = 1.21" Winchester small pistol primer Winchester case Taper crimp 830 fps target (~5.3 gr W231 powder) The berrys bullet your using from what I can find is .610" long? Is that correct? A speer tmj rn is .655" long They load that to 1.26" With a case that's .889" long 1.26-.889= .371 .655-.371= .284" of bullet in the case Berrys at 1.21 1.21-.889= .321 .610-.321= ..289 or close enough Speer data for tmj and w231 Start 5.6 at 833fps with MAX 6.2 at 903fps If you load them out longer, it'll take a bit more powder. |
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Obliviously, some variations are because of what I had for components, OAL, etc. All loads 5.3grs W231 and Rainier Ballistics 230gr plated bullets. 1.235" OAL. 5.86" barrel. As I had some curiosity, I tried three different types of brass, 5 rounds each. FPS is the average. FC small primer brass, Servicios SPP: 811FPS / 11.3SD Starline .45 Super brass, CCI300 LPP: 841 / 24.5SD Winchester brass, CCI300 LPP: 833 / 23.9SD I would expect .86" more barrel (5" on yours, correct?) probably accounts for the velocity increase. |
Is 45ACP the Easiest Round to Reload? (Page 2 of 2)
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